Judgment expected in Vredendal trial of farmer who allegedly killed and buried worker

The trial of a farmer, accused of murdering a farm worker and burying him in a shallow grave on a farm, is expected to draw to a close on Tuesday when the Western Cape High Court, sitting in Vredendal, gives judgment.

Martin Visser was arrested after he allegedly murdered farmworker Adam Pieterse and buried him in a shallow grave on the farm near Lutzville on the West Coast in February 2015.

Visser allegedly using a garden spade to beat the man to death.

He runs the Dassieshoek farm and was arrested about 18 months after the murder of 32-year-old Pieterse, who previously laid an assault charge against him.

He pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm and four counts of common assault of three other people.

Pathologist Dr Esme Erasmus conducted the post-mortem after Pieterse's remains were unearthed on March 18, 2015.

According to her report, the body was in an advanced stage of decomposition.

He had cuts on his scalp and his brain was too decomposed to be assessed.

He also had a cut on his left upper arm, which resembled a defensive wound, and his genitals and perineum - the area between the anus and the scrotum - had been mutilated after his death, the court heard.